第１０５８堀：いつも通ってきた道 (Part1)
### Chapter 1058: The Path Always Traveled
**Side: Yuki**
“...I’ll be honest. We shouldn’t keep Senal here. Or rather, we should have Luna dispose of her immediately.”
At Seraria’s opinion, most of the other wives nodded in agreement, as if to say, “Exactly.”
“I understand your thoughts, Master. It is true that if we gain her cooperation, we could locate those gods who aren’t part of the Mid-Level God faction—the ones who simply prioritize their own survival above all else. However, welcoming her in is synonymous with bringing danger inside our walls. I agree with Seraria-sama.”
Even Kirue, our super-maid, was of the opinion that Senal and her companions should be executed.
Well, up until now, the gods we’d encountered—Hifie, Noble, Nonoa, Nogosh... there are always so many names starting with ‘No’—had only ended up fighting us due to misunderstandings. Once those were cleared up, we managed to get along reasonably well. But these new gods, the ones who prioritize survival above all else, are prepared to bare their fangs at anyone if it means staying alive.
In other words, Senal’s declaration earlier was essentially asking if we were prepared to be killed by them.
The wives were furious at the idea of someone threatening to kill their husband. They saw no reason to invite an enemy into their home.
“Exactly. Besides, she has killed Dungeon Masters. She’s dangerous.”
And Milly was the most dangerous of all. Her eyes were completely dead, her entire body radiating the message that those people needed to be eradicated immediately.
“Hey, hey. Milly, let’s calm down a little. If we’re talking about killing Dungeon Masters, we already have people inside who cut down Comet over there, don’t we?”
“That’s right. I don’t necessarily agree with Yuki-san’s opinion, but Ratz is right. We already have Holy Sword users among us who have the history of killing Dungeon Masters.”
Ratz and Eris immediately stepped in to calm her down. Milly, after all, is hyper-sensitive when it comes to any threat to my life.
“What are you two talking about! That woman didn’t just do it to one person because of some grudge! It’s not like she was being mind-controlled by some idiot! She has intentionally killed multiple Dungeon Masters! I’m sure her real goal in saying she’d cooperate is to target Yuki-san’s life this time too!”
“Hey now. Am I being made out to be an idiot?”
The wives all nodded in agreement with Milly’s assessment. Well, I ignored Comet, who was interjecting from the side. As Milly said, your planning was just sloppy, Comet.
“That’s right. We can’t deny that possibility. How are you planning to handle that part?”
“No, it’ll be the usual ‘Designated Protection.’ With this, she can’t betray us, and she can’t run away. Honestly, it’s surprisingly convenient. It works as a restraint, too.”
“That’s... but you really are a villain, aren’t you? At first, I thought it was something to protect your wives and the people you wanted to keep safe, but this is just a spell to prevent betrayal, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, that was the original purpose.”
No matter how much kindness we show or how we try to help, betrayal for various reasons is common in this world. Especially in a world of swords, magic, and monsters with a civilization level comparable to medieval Europe, betrayal and poisoning are daily occurrences. How could I walk directly into such a place without a way to distinguish friend from foe? More than any powerful weapon or tool, the most necessary thing is to have allies you can trust. I’m not some random nobody; I don’t intend to get stabbed in the back.
“But there’s a possibility that the spell could be broken.”
“If we start worrying about that, we’d have to worry about meteors hitting Weed or nuclear weapons flying in. Besides, Seraria, even you intended to kill me at the beginning, didn’t you?”
“...Ah, that did happen, didn’t it? But that was for my sister’s sake.”
That’s right. Despite calling it dangerous, many of the wives currently here have targeted my life in the past. Seraria was a stand-up woman who declared she would kill me if I posed a threat to Elju. And after her, was it some Demon Lord?
“W-well, that was unavoidable, or rather, it was just...”
She turned her face away, avoiding my gaze, and muttered her response.
“Ah, Deryu didn’t know anything about Yuki-san at that time, so it couldn’t be helped.”
Well, as Ria said, it’s true that based on her past experiences, she had judged me an ‘enemy.’ But it’s also a fact that she didn’t listen to a word I said and just attacked. If Surakichi-san hadn’t been there, we wouldn’t have been able to stop her. In that sense, she’s no different from Senal, who has been crushing Dungeon Masters and corrupt nations based on her own convictions.
“...I apologize. But I was only doing my job as a knight of Zilba.”
“...And look, I was told that Betan had fallen, so as a general, I had no choice but to go out there.”
“You two couldn’t help it. You were only fulfilling your loyalty to your countries, and you weren’t specifically targeting Yuki-sama.”
As Samantha said regarding Jessica and Agil, they were just following orders to eliminate an enemy. Their reasons were more sound than Seraria’s or Deryu’s. If their superiors ordered a ceasefire, they would comply; if they were told to cooperate, they would do so honestly.
“Hmm. In that sense, Samantha was much worse. She treated Yuki and Taiki as suspicious individuals, threatened them with magic, and turned them away at the gate.”
“Guh!?”
Cleena’s merciless remark pierced Samantha’s heart. Ah, that’s right, that did happen.
“No, that’s not Samantha-san’s fault, is it? That was just because Popuri hadn’t passed on the message, right?”
Taiki, who had been turned away at the gate with me, immediately came to her defense. He wasn’t particularly against the idea of welcoming Senal as a collaborator either. Well, Taiki has been tossed around by the shifting lines between friend and foe enough himself. He’s had to bring people who might be enemies into his inner circle plenty of times to protect his allies. He isn’t called the Hero King for nothing.
Regardless, as Taiki said, that was definitely just Popuri’s negligence. Samantha herself had only intended to have us leave quietly; she had no intention of attacking.
“In that sense, the people who summoned Yuki and the others by force and tried to make them fight are the worst of all, aren’t they? Right, Kagura?”
“Th-th-that is!? N-no, it’s different. Uh...”
Kagura was greatly shaken by Enora’s words. It’s different from being directly targeted, but forcing someone to fight on the front lines of a battlefield because you can’t handle it yourself—what does that say? Yeah, I think that was the highest level of danger. It could even be said that she pushed me the hardest. After all, I had to expose my own flesh and blood back then.
“Haha, if we’re talking about that, I was on the side attacking ‘Faide,’ and Kagura summoning Yuki-sama was unavoidable. In any case, we’ve already talked it out, so it’s fine.”